Signing day is over and the smoke has cleared.  As such it’s time to start analyzing and ranking the recruiting classes of Florida’s big three football programs.
 
University of Miami
Grade: A -
 
Overview: Miami signed 32 recruits, two thirds of those from the State of Florida and a third overall from the South Florida area.  While the class is large it isn’t all that evenly distributed which cost the Hurricanes a higher grade.
 
THE GOOD

Miami addressed major roster weaknesses at the area of Linebacker, Quarterback and Wide Receiver.  They also landed three defensive linemen, two of whom have a chance to play early in Jeremy Lewis and number one rated defensive tackle Marcus Fortson.  Miami landed some of the top linebackers in the country in Arthur Brown, Sean Spence and Ramon Buchanon.  All three of those kids could contribute early (although Ramon might start out at S or needs to add weight for the OLB position).  This is easily the top linebacker class in the country and should spark immediate competition for playing time.
 
With Kyle Wright graduating and Randy Shannon giving Kirby Freeman the old heave ho, Redshirt Freshman Robert Marve looked to be the incumbent for the starting position.  Not only was he the best at his position, he was the ONLY legitimate quarterback on the roster.  The dangers of relying on a single quarterback in a college football season (not including walk-ons) is easily recognized.  Thankfully for Coach Shannon 2008 will bring in three quality true frosh signal callers.  Taylor Cook is a big (6′7″) strong quarterback from Texas and the only member of the group who won’t be available for spring practice.  Both Jacory Harris from Miami NW HS and Cannon Smith from Hargrave Military will have the advantage of participating in spring practice so look for one of those two players to gain the backup role behind Marve.

The Hurricanes have a dearth of talent on the outside and to address this weakness Shannon signed a number of wide receivers.  Aldarius and Davon Johnson (not related), Tommy Streeter, Laron Byrd, Kendall Thompkins, Travis Benjamin and Thearon Collier will add much needed depth to the receiver position for the Canes.  Some of these players could have an immediate impact (Streeter or one of the Johnsons) but the numbers were necessary to address the precariously low number of quality WRs on the roster.  Safety is another position strongly addressed by this class.  CJ Holton, Vaughn Telemaque, CJ Odom and Joe Wylie.  Ramon Buchanon might also begin his college career at Strong Safety.
 
THE BAD

While Miami signed a plethora of linebackers virtually all of them are outside linebackers.  Only Zach Kane (who also has the ability to play Fullback) is a true inside linebacker.  One solution is to move Arthur Brown, the top rated OLB in many services to the inside position where he has the size, strength and ability to excel.  Since Brown was promised the opportunity to play outside linebacker he likely wouldn’t be moved until further down the road.  Miami closed out 2007 with a big need for defensive linemen and while they scored big at Defensive Tackle they struck out at Defensive End.  The only true DE’s signed in this class was Andrew Smith, a project out of Coconut Creek whose only other offers came from schools like Troy and Indiana.  Clearly the strategy of the coaching staff will be to hope they can put some weight onto a few of their LBs and move them to DE (a strategy that paid big dividends for Jimmy Johnson in the 80s).
 
One of the biggest weaknesses on the team the past few years has been on the offensive line. This class brings in two quality linemen but only two.  With the number of scholarships Miami offered they should have brought in four to five bodies.  Offensive linemen are the toughest position to predict so large numbers are essential.  Combine this with last years two man haul and you are looking at some lean times in the offensive trenches in the future.  That’s not much help for an already weak position.

THE UGLY

Last year Miami’s biggest weakness was it’s secondary, mainly the corner position.  This is an area where a top notch corner can make an immediate impact.  The corner position was repeatedly exposed as either young or not talented enough depending on who was in the game.  This is a spot where Miami really would have liked to sign about three players.  Brandon Harris is a good one but there isn’t much upper class talent at the corner and last years haul hasn’t lived up to it’s potential thus far.  Cornerback is another tricky position to predict going from HS to college so it’s best to oversign here.  UM loaded up on safety and while some corners end up going to safety it’s very rare to find a bigger safety type player who is athletic and nimble enough to play the corner spot.  Some safeties will grow into linebackers but are in general useless as cover corners.

The Hurricanes have produced some of the best Tight Ends in the country over the past decade.  That streak of 1st round caliber TEs looks to be coming to an end.  I’m not sure how the TE position fits into Shannon’s new offensive strategy so it may not be an issue but they haven’t signed one in Randy’s tenure so if they do plan on using a TE they better get a couple next year . . . or convert some linebackers.  While UM landed two fullbacks they did not sign a running back and surely would have liked to have landed Jamie Harper who they went after hard to close the recruiting season.  The Canes can probably afford to miss out this year but next year they will definitely need to add one or two running backs.

SYNOPSIS

While Miami has some exciting players coming to Coral Gables, 16 of their 32 signees play at one of two positions (LB or WR) and if you combine that with the FOUR safeties and THREE quarterbacks you can see how the class is not evenly distributed.  These positions will see some immediate benefit but there are other positions on the team that are also in need of young talent and they haven’t been adequately addressed.  Next year expect Shannon to put a priority on offensive linemen, running backs and corners.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see a class with 5-8 offensive linemen next year.   Just look at FSU to see you can never have too many quality linemen on scholarship.

Such a big class might mean that not all the players listed above will qualify.  The theory is Shannon is oversigning (25 player per year cap) not just because some of the players (the early entry students) can be counted to last years class but also that some are not expected to ever make it to campus.  But that’s something we won’t know until next fall.

Next up . . . Florida’s class.